Sud de France, part 1 - Food

Chocolate cake of lava death - my favorite!

A little late (and late in the week), so with out further ado...

As some of you know,  after several years of teaching as part of an Summer exchange program, my Dad became part of the faculty at the university in Montpellier.  Though he still teaches most of the year in the States, for a week each year, in either the Spring or Fall, he teaches part of a course in Montpellier.  This past October, I was lucky enough to go with him and my mom. This is the first of a 3, or maybe 4, parter about that trip.

When traveling in the South of France, there are a few things one  must do - see fields of sunflowers and lavender, explore the medieval cities, and EAT!  I love food.  I love French food.  And I really love eating  French food in France.  Here are just a few of my food-related excursions.

Eat Dessert First

Do I have your attention yet?

It's France.  With French desserts.  Need I say more?

Marshmallows have never looked so good

Nougat of all flavors

Chocolate that looks like potatoes.  Does life get any better?

Les Macarons!

Yes, that is a cake topped with macarons.  Genius, I tell you!

Sense et Sensability

Several Summers ago, my family celebrated a special occasion at the Michelin Star-rated Jardin de Sens, owned and operated by the Pourcel brothers, Jacques and Laurent.  It.  Was.  Amazing.  Since then, we have had occasion, or made occasions, to try others of the brothers' Montpellier restaurants: the now-defunct sandwich shop, La Compagnie des Comptoirs on the beach, and this time around, Insensé, the restaurant at Musée Fabre.

I have to say, I wasn't impressed.  I'm pretty sure I could've cooked that one up in my own kitchen and done a better job.  In fact, the chocolate cake tasted just like my own recipe.  Perhaps my previous experiences just heightened my expectations too far.  Keep in mind, this in no way means I would pass on an opportunity to eat in any of their other restaurants.

Down on the Grange 

The pavillion in Antigone has many restaurants.  You can get anything from fish and pasta to Lebanese and Chinese.  But one place in particular takes the crêpe.  La Grange aux Crêpes has a nice atmosphere, friendly owners, and a lovely menu of salads and sweet and savory crêpes.  But their signature dessert is one of my dad's favorites - profiteroles made with crêpes instead of cream puffs.  We went twice in the 9 days we were there.  I'm only sad I didn't get a picture.

The Original Waffle Window

I love the Waffle Window here in Portland.  But, if it's possible, I love the gauffre window in Montpellier more.  Begian waffles with a variety toppings, made while you wait.  Yum!  I hear they also do sandwiches and some other fried snacks, but why waste your time with those?

There may be things on the menu besides waffles, but I'm not sure why

They call me Tater

One of Dad's favorite restaurants is located at Polygone, the shopping venter at the end of the tram line.  Les 3 Brasseurs is a brasserie featuring it's own line of beers.  So, what goes better with beer than a burger?  Perhaps next time I should READ the menu instead of skimming it.  I caught that the burger had cheese and onions and an egg and that it was served with potatoes and, although I found it odd that both potatoes and pomme frites were listed, it didn't really click until my plate arrived.  My burger was served, not on a bun, but between what were essentially 2 very large, flat tater tots.  Again, my great regret isn;t so much that I couldn't finish it, as that I hadn't taken my camera to dinner and missed the the opportunity to photograph it.

Cheesus

Anyone who knows my dad, knows how he feel about cheese.  The first day we were there, he bought cheese.  He also bought cheese the second and forth days we were there.  Not that I'm complaining, of course.  Just that, as usual, his perception of what 3 people can eat in three days was a little off.

Say Cheese, cheese!

Food of the Gods

Many of you might also be familiar with what I can consider the Greatest Food on Earth: Aligot.  Aligot is traditional food from the Lozère region of France.  Lucky for me, there is a place to get it in Montpellier!  Maison de la Lozère serves many traditional, and some not-so-traditional, foods from the region.    Of course, the house speciality is aligot.  Warm mashed potatoes mixed with cheese that is served from a large bowl at the table, using 2 spoons in a twisting motion.  The cooking of the dish isn't difficult, if you can find the right cheese, but the serving...there in lies the true talent.  Don't believe me?  Just do a Google image search for "aligot."  Also, should anyone ever offer you a second serving, it would be wise to politely decline.  As lovely as it is, one serving is designed, and does, stay with one for several hours.

This One Went to Market

Portland has a wonderful Farmer's Market.  There are local farmers and food crafters and it's a fun excursion even if you don't need a whole ton of produce.  But nothing quiet compares to a European open-air market.  Montpellier's Sunday market is a fun walk with beautiful produce, meats, cheeses, and even wine.  My favorite happens to be the guy who sells live fish out of the back of his truck.

Market wine!

Fish in the back of a truck.  Trust me, they're in there.

I don't even like olives, but they're still pretty.

And I'll leave you with one last French food greatness - the Café Gourmand.  A small coffee (which I could do without) and several small desserts, usually the house specialties.  Seriously, they've thought of everything!

YUM!

Easter Crafting Fun

I've been away for a while, but it's a new year, I have a new job and this means more time for myself, my crafting, and (hopefully) my blog!

I'm starting off with an easy, but fun one.  This is what I did last year for Easter.  I planned to post it later, but there was some interest out there on more in-depth process info, so it's going up early.

Since I feel I've pretty well mastered crochet, and I'm learning how to knit, I decided the next thing to take on is dyeing yarn.  I've tried a few things but before I'm ready to move on to Big Girl Dyes (acid dyes), I wanted to try one more fun, food safe thing - Easter Egg Dyes!

Somewhere along the line, I decided I wanted to compare how the dyes work on wool as opposed to eggs.

So, I started the process by hard boiling some eggs, buying some dyes, and winding my wool into 9 sections (one for each color of dye) of about 25 grams each:

Mason jars in the front row, plastic party cups in the back

After prepping the wool by soaking it in water for an hour, I prepared the dyes according to the package directions.  I used mason jars and double dye (2 tablets, twice the vinegar, and twice the water) for the wool and clear plastic party cups for the eggs.

I dropped the eggs in the cups and put the mason jars into a glass jelly roll pan for ease of transport.

Eggs in the dye

The yarn went in the mason jars then into the oven at 200*

Yarn in mason jars pre-baking

After baking, and exhausting dyes

I left the eggs in the cups and yarn in the oven until the yarn had completely exhausted the dyes (i.e. the liquid left in the jars is clear), which took a lot longer than I anticipated - about 2 hours.


When I took the yarn out of the oven to cool, I took the eggs out of the cups to dry.

After the yarn was completely cool, I rinsed until the water ran clear (almost immediately), and hung it to dry.  The only color that didn't really turn out, was the purple, which is, apparently, notorious for breaking.

Here are the finished products:

Some day, in the not too distant future, there'll be a progress update with the projects I'm made (there are some ideas in the works).